Exhibit A in the case against one-sided reporting can be found in the November 27 edition of the Washington Post in a dispatch reporting that Israel and Hamas have opened indirect talks in Cairo on various understandings that are supposed to undergird their cease-fire. ("Hamas, Israel pursue talks -- Top Gaza official says fighting will resume if negotiations fail" by Abigail Hauslohner and Michael Birnbaum, page A8.)

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The spotlight is reserved for Hamas, while Israel is shoved to the side. A neat propaganda coup for Palestinian terrorism. Hamas couldn't have asked for more from such obliging reporters.

Leo Rennert is a former White House correspondent and Washington bureau chief of McClatchy Newspapers

Hamas political leader Khaled Meshaal has told tens of thousands of people marking the 25th anniversary of the Palestinian Islamist group's founding that it will not recognise Israel. In a fiery speech during his first ever visit to Gaza, he said Palestinians would not cede any part of their land. Mr Meshaal's visit follows a ceasefire that ended days of violence between Israel and Hamas last month. Israel described Mr Meshaal's speech as "hateful and extremist".

Government spokesman Mark Regev said Mr Meshaal's message "says no to peace and no to reconciliation, a message that says every Israeli man, woman and child is a legitimate target". "That sort of extremism won't help peace, the opposite is true," he added. Mr Meshaal is due to talk of reconciliation with Hamas's Palestinian rival, Fatah. Hamas removed Fatah from Gaza by force in 2007 after winning elections there. Fatah governs parts of the West Bank.

'Made in Gaza'

The BBC's Yolande Knell in Gaza City says the event was intended to send a message that, after 25 years, Hamas is a force to be reckoned with. It enjoys support in Gaza and feels it is gaining regional political influence after the Arab uprisings brought new Islamist governments to power, she adds. Tens of thousands of Gazans made their way to the rally at the al-Qatiba complex west of Gaza City to hear the speech by Mr Meshaal. "As long as Palestine is ours and Palestine is the land of Arabism and Islam, we can never recognise the legitimacy of Israel's occupation of it," he told supporters. "There is no legitimacy for occupation. Hence, there is no legitimacy for Israel, however long time lasts."

The centrepiece of Saturday's rally in Gaza City was a huge replica of a type of rocket Hamas militants fired at Jerusalem and Tel Aviv in the conflict with Israel last month. It has Made in Gaza written on it. Some 170 Palestinians and six Israelis were killed in the eight-day engagement and Hamas presented Saturday's event as a victory rally. Ahmed Shaheen, attending the rally with his children, told Reuters: "This is a day of victory. The presence of Khaled Meshaal is a sign of this victory." Huge portraits of Hamas founder Sheikh Ahmed Yassin and Ahmed Jabari, the military commander assassinated in an Israeli strike on 14 November, framed the stage. Israel says its operation was successful in killing Jabari and significantly reducing the militants' stockpile of rockets. Israel, the US and the EU consider Hamas a terrorist organisation.

The Hamas Charter lays it all out. Despite the best efforts of trying to make Hamas seem like a warm and fuzzy organization, the media can't wipe out the truths laid out at the conception of Hamas.

Little goodies like this.

Hamas Principles

The principles of the Hamas are stated in their Covenant or Charter, given in full below. Following are highlights.

"Israel will exist and will continue to exist until Islam will obliterate it, just as it obliterated others before it." (The Martyr, Imam Hassan al-Banna, of blessed memory).

"The Islamic Resistance Movement believes that the land of Palestine is an Islamic Waqf consecrated for future Muslim generations until Judgement Day. It, or any part of it, should not be squandered: it, or any part of it, should not be given up. "

"There is no solution for the Palestinian question except through Jihad. Initiatives, proposals and international conferences are all a waste of time and vain endeavors."

Or like this.

"The Day of Judgement will not come about until Muslims fight the Jews (killing the Jews), when the Jew will hide behind stones and trees.

The stones and trees will say O Muslims, O Abdulla, there is a Jew behind me, come and kill him. Only the Gharkad tree, would not do that because it is one of the trees of the Jews." (related by al-Bukhari and Muslim).

I'd say the Hamas Charter is pretty straight forward in calling for the death of all Jews and for the obliteration of Israel.

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